Week 6 was inter-divisional week, where teams from the two
divisions faced each other to create some highly interesting match-ups. While I
think most teams were more concerned with their individual record and playoff
chances rather than representing the strength of their division, I believe in
the back of everyone's' minds was the stimulating question: Which division is
stronger?Out of eight match-ups the
West went 4.5-3.5, winning the inter-divisional "match", but this result is
skewed as one of the matches was decided by a very unfortunate circumstance.

In the match between the Dallas Destiny and the Carolina
Cobras, FM Mike Klein of Carolina accidentally resigned in an equal position in
his game against IM Conrad Holt. The game was not restarted from the live
position and the resignation was ruled irreversible. Had the game continued, FM
Klein would likely have at least held the draw and the match itself would have
been drawn, leading to a divisional tie of 4-4. This extremely controversial
event will undoubtedly cause league officials to reconsider the rules regarding
such extreme situations, and for FM Mike Klein's honest take on the event you
can read his blog here.

Leading the way for the West were the Chicago Blaze, who
moved to a league record 6-0 after defeating the Baltimore Kingfishers,
2.5-1.5. Next were the Los Angeles Vibe who bested the New Jersey Knockouts by
a margin of 3-1, thanks to a swift and crushing victory by WGM Tatev Abrahamyan
over IM Dean Ippolito. For the East the New York Knights beat the Seattle
Sluggers 2.5-1.5 after GM Pascal Charbonneau took advantage of GM Varuzhan
Akobian's risky play to score the decisive win. Also winning for the East were
the Philadelphia Inventors, squeezing by the Saint Louis Arch Bishops with the
only win coming on board four by NM William Fisher over Margaret Hua.

NM Fisher has been Philadelphia's not-so-secret weapon and
is now 5/5 for the season, with a performance rating over 2600! In a rematch of
last year's league finals the Miami Sharks and New England Nor'easters ended up
tying their match. The skirmish between the San Francisco Mechanics and
Manhattan Applesauce also ended in a tie, as did the battle between the Boston
Blitz and Arizona Scorpions.

Obviously the most talked about match this week would be
between Dallas and Carolina, but I think the controversial resignation takes
away from the overall enjoyment of the match rather than add on to it, so I
ended up choosing this clash between New York and Seattle with four messy but
very intriguing games: